About Me

Friday, October 28, 2016

Everything I write affects me emotionally. But there are some stories that do this more than others. Superstar is one such story. Based on the unrequited-groupie-love-song that both Karen Carpenter and Bette Midler made famous, Superstar is a rarity for me: a pure love story about a young man falling for a cad of a rock star.He told him he loved him. He told him he'd be back.It's also about the resiliency of life and love and how both can surprise us at the most unlikely of times.It's also one of my favorite Seattle-set stories and you'll get glimpses of the beauty of the city and the Pacific Northwest as you join my main character on the 180-foot high Aurora Bridge, also known as the "suicide bridge." It's here where Superstar begins and ends as my main character, Leon, reminisces about his love for a grungy rock superstar before taking a fatal plunge. But someone is waiting and watching, and suicides don't always go off as planned...Hope you'll check out the story, available only in ebook. You can pick up a copy here.

Synopsis
When Leon first saw him singing in a dive bar, he was mesmerized. But he didn’t know he’d be going home with the dangerously sexy lead singer that night. He couldn’t have predicted he’d fall in love. But then, Leon never expected his love to be reciprocated. Yet the hot singer with the gravely voice told Leon he loved him; told him he’d come back.

So, why, three years after that fateful night, is Leon perched at the edge of a bridge, ready to make a fatal leap?

Superstar is the story of a groupie and the rock star he loves. It’s the tale of a man on the edge, both literally and figuratively...and it’s a timeless story of love found and lost lost, all set to a driving rock beat.

Superstar is about promises made, promises broken, and dreams unfulfilled. And, ultimately, it’s about realizing that love can come along when one least expects it—and in the unlikeliest of places...

Excerpt
...I closed Olive’s that night. It wasn’t so much the crowd, or the beer, or even the cute allegedly straight boy in the cargo shorts and Cold Play T-shirt who made eyes at me throughout the night.

No. It was you.

And your music. Back then, you were just the lead singer in a band called Voiles and I was mesmerized by both your look and your sound. A bass guitar and a drummer backed you up, and if I passed either of them on the street today, I would not recognize them. For me, you stood all alone on that tiny plywood stage with a black curtain behind you. When that incredible, melodic, craggy voice emerged, it was as if the physical confines of the room disappeared. I could see only you…and what a view that was. Your tousled auburn hair, streaked through with gold, practically obscured your face. Your rail-thin body, packed into skinny jeans and a Ramones T-shirt, was like some post punk boy’s fantasy. And when you jerked your head to get the hair out of your face, the motion revealed a chiseled face, dark chocolate eyes, and a look that seemed both faraway and incredibly sad.

It made me want to take you in my arms.

I suppose that’s the effect you were after. I hate to think that the mournful gaze and the counter-culture, retro rock star clothes were calculated, just another part of the act as much as the microphone on its stand, the drum kit, the lights, the amps, the electrical cords.

I hate to think that.

But it wasn’t just your look that caught me, entrapping me in a snare that I would find impossible to free myself from for the next three years. It was your song. Your sad, sad song. Your voice was that of a man who had smoked two packs of cigarettes a day for decades: scarred, veering on raspy. It was the voice of a man much older than your years, which appeared to number in the twenties. You were the love child of Leonard Cohen and Rufus Wainwright.

And when I wasn’t sobbing, I was imagining what you’d look like naked.

There was a curious combination pulsing inside me that night: lust, despair, hunger…

But I never had any real hopes that I would actually be meeting you that night. No idea that I would actually see what the wiry body under those clothes looked like. No clue that I would come to know the feel of those swollen lips on my own...

Real Men. True Love.
Rick R. Reed draws inspiration from the lives of gay men to craft stories that quicken the heartbeat, engage emotions, and keep the pages turning. Although he dabbles in horror, dark suspense, and comedy, his attention always returns to the power of love. He’s the award-winning and bestselling author of more than fifty works of published fiction and is forever at work on yet another book. Lambda Literary has called him: “A writer that doesn’t disappoint…” You can find him at www.rickrreed.com or www.rickrreedreality.blogspot.com. Rick lives in Palm Springs, CA with his beloved husband and their fierce Chihuahua/Shiba Inu mix.

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

TITLE: Reclaiming Hope SERIES: Home for Hope #3 AUTHOR: Shell Taylor PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press COVER ARTIST: L.C. Chase LENGTH: 210 Pages RELEASE DATE: October 14, 2016 BLURB:Sequel to Resurrecting HopeHome for Hope: Book ThreeFour years ago, Kollin Haverty’s best friend, Riley Meadows, dropped off the face of the earth. When he shows up out of the blue, armed with a flimsy excuse for disappearing and having nearly completed his transition from female to male, Kollin wants to pick up where they left off. But Riley’s unwillingness to be honest with Kollin prevents him from fully trusting Riley again. Despite Riley’s insecurities and Kollin’s abandonment issues, they quickly discover there’s something more than friendship between them.

When a ghost from Riley’s past unexpectedly appears with haunting memories in tow, Kollin’s anger about being lied to outweighs his desire to be the understanding boyfriend Riley needs. As Riley’s web of strategically withheld secrets begins to unravel, he must find the courage to pursue his own peace before he can move forward with Kollin, and Kollin must decide what’s more important—supporting his best friend or protecting himself.

Hi, everyone! First, I want to thank Rick Reed for having me to share a little about Reclaiming Hope. I’m a huge fan of his work so this is a lovely honor! Yesterday I wrote a little about what inspired me to write Kollin’s and Riley’s story, and I mentioned I had a difficult time stepping into their headspace. The main reason for that is because I’d spent over two years writing Adam’s and Elijah’s stories and instead of doing something smart like completely detaching myself from that world, I tried to move around it and not… quite… let… go of those two.

Anyway, I managed to find a way to finish the book and still keep some of my favorite parts of Adam and Elijah in there. One of the most entertaining things to figure out with those two was how they would parent not only adult-Kollin but also his new younger sister, Lizzie, who came with her own set of issues.

Adam seemed pretty obvious. Given his background and everything he’d been through and overcome—he is clearly the more serious dad who is going to talk everything out and make sure everyone understands how everyone is feeling and maybe if we have time we’ll sneak in a round of Kumbaya while we hold hands and sway back and forth.

Elijah, though, was a bit more difficult. It’s not in his nature to be fatherly or affectionate (after all, he didn’t receive that growing up so he never quite learned it), and so I think he struggles with that and maybe sometimes overcompensates. Granted, it comes more naturally to him with Kollin and eventually LIzzie, but once you step outside of that circle, Elijah is almost a totally different person. In fact, even four or five years after we first see a bit of a dent in Elijah’s armor, Kollin is still the only person on the planet allowed to call him Eli. Not even Adam gets that privilege! There’s one scene in particular that shows Elijah’s struggle—or maybe struggle isn’t the word because he really doesn’t care much that he’s not super compassionate—in which Elijah discusses some serious issues with Riley. The scene is in Riley’s POV, but it’s pretty clear that Elijah’s biggest goals are to ensure Riley understands he’s there to protect Kollin and he’s going to say what he has to say and if Riley doesn’t like it… so sorry.

Lizzie added some fun opportunities to see Adam and Elijah parent a younger teen as well as a girl. We find that Elijah’s the stricter of the two, and that all of the years Adam has spent working with youth has paid off because he’s able to really understand how this teenage girl thinks and can often manipulate a situation so he gets what he wants (which is what’s best for Lizzie.)

I can’t say much more without giving away too much of the story, but tomorrow I’ll discuss how Adam and Elijah directly impacted Kollin’s and Riley’s relationship. Thanks so much for stopping by today. Don’t forget to enter to win the giveaway for a chance to win an Amazon gift card or a book from my backlist. Or… if you’d rather, I also have an audio copy of Redeeming Hope (Home for Hope book 1) to give away!

Adam rolled his eyes to
mimic her and then turned his attention toward Kollin. “Look who the cat
dragged in.”

For some reason,
Kollin’s heart fluttered. Waves of nervousness raced through his body as he
tried to figure out why Adam thought he should know the stranger. He’d never
told either of his parents about meeting the guy at the bookstore, and even if
he had, Adam couldn’t have known he was the same person.

The man studied the
ground, seemingly reluctant to look at Kollin, but Kollin knew he couldn’t
identify him even if they were staring directly at one another.

Fortunately Adam saved
him from further embarrassment. “I didn’t recognize Riley until he threatened
to own me in Ping-Pong.”

Kollin sucked in a huge
gulp of air. The nervous flutters, which had been nothing more than a curious
enigma, ceased, and he suddenly felt as if a boulder had settled in the pit of
his stomach.

He hadn’t spoken to
Riley Meadows in over four years. When Kollin’s parents kicked him out, Riley
had been the one who kept Kollin sane. He tethered him to reality when all he’d
wanted was to escape inside himself. They’d kept in touch when Riley first went
to college and somehow became even closer—until Riley seemingly dropped off the
face of the earth. Phone calls, e-mails, texts… all unanswered. Kollin
eventually took the hint and gave up.

Shell Taylor is a full-time mother of three exuberant and loving kiddos and one fur baby, a tiny but fierce Yorkie-poo named Rocco. As a Christian who practices love, grace, and humility, she tries her best to instill these same virtues in her rowdy kids. She is a huge fan of Marvel comics and will never stop loving Harry Potter (Hufflepuff pride, baby!) When Shell isn’t writing, she can be found binge watching Netflix or volunteering at her church and childrens’ school. Shell considers herself blessed to have married a strong, supportive man who works hard to allow her to continue to follow her dreams.

Real Men. True Love.
Rick R. Reed draws inspiration from the lives of gay men to craft stories that quicken the heartbeat, engage emotions, and keep the pages turning. Although he dabbles in horror, dark suspense, and comedy, his attention always returns to the power of love. He’s the award-winning and bestselling author of more than fifty works of published fiction and is forever at work on yet another book. Lambda Literary has called him: “A writer that doesn’t disappoint…” You can find him at www.rickrreed.com or www.rickrreedreality.blogspot.com. Rick lives in Palm Springs, CA with his beloved husband and their fierce Chihuahua/Shiba Inu mix.

TITLE:
Full Circle

SERIES:
Sirius
Wolves #7

AUTHOR:
Victoria Sue

PUBLISHER:
Dark
Hollow Press

COVER
ARTIST: Dark Hollow Press

LENGTH:
50,000 words

RELEASE
DATE: October 18, 2016

BLURB:
“Win the love of the wolf with the hardest heart.”

Faced with eternal
banishment to hell, Anubis, god of the underworld, has found a loophole in one
of the oldest laws which will allow him to unleash his evil on an unsuspecting
human world. Orion’s only hope to stop him is to accept his challenge: send a
champion to win the love of the wolf with the hardest heart. It will take
someone with a pure heart to soften a closed one, so faced with the threat of
losing not only the werewolves, but the destruction of the human race, the gods
can only do one thing — send Adam, one of their own.

Adam quickly realizes
that the werewolf whose love he must win is Jed. Wounded after the loss of his wife and son,
Jed promised he would never love again or be responsible for someone else’s
happiness. Adam has been given a near impossible task.

Anubis is eager to see
Adam fail, and unbeknown to everyone takes matters into his own hands to make
sure of it. Everything happening now is part of his master plan, and finally it
has come full circle.

Even if Adam succeeds and
wins Jed's heart, will that love survive when Jed discovers the whole thing was
nothing more than a bet? Or when Adam does the one thing he mustn’t and falls
in love himself, will he not only break Jed’s heart but completely destroy his
own?

It started with a kiss.

It didn’t actually. Orion’s Circle – book one in Sirius Wolves – started with Aden running for his life to escape the pack of wolves that were hunting him, and about to rip him to shreds.

Seven books later it’s damn well going to finish with one, though!

Not that I’ve made Aden suffer through seven books to get his man… or men. Sirius Wolves features two groups of four guys mated to each other.

Yep - four. At a time. (They bought a big bed)

It was supposed to be one book. I wasn’t going to write a serial. But by the time I’d gotten to 100,000 words and it still wasn’t finished, I split it into three.

Then I wrote another three – because one book doesn’t do four guys justice, especially when it’s a new group of four guys.

I’ve had battles won and lost (but mainly won.) Good guys lived and bad guys died. (Except in book two, but book three totally makes up for it.)

Babies are born, and a battle scarred bilateral amputee saves the day – and delivers one of the babies at the same time. He isn’t even a werewolf, but shows them what a true Alpha is meant to be.

Evil ancient gods keep appearing, which is very inconsiderate of them, especially when they incite kidnapping and torture. Powers are discovered. Healers, psychics, and empaths abound.

And love wins the day – of course.

Orion’s Circle

Broken Circle

Eternal Circle

The Promise

The Dilemma

The Beginning

And the seventh – Full Circle. Because that’s where the series has ended.

Jed gentled his hand as
Adam mewled in the back of his throat, both of Adam’s hands surrounding his
neck and pressing tightly with an overwhelming urge to simply hang on.

They shared kisses.
Shared air. Jed swallowed every reaction from Adam because it was precious.
Finally, he wiped his hand and their bodies clean on the sheet and drew Adam in
closer.

His heart beat loudly
in his ears. Jed didn’t want to think about what they had just done, and let
reality intrude on the bliss that seemed to wrap them both up. It wasn’t the
whole fucking a guy thing, even though he was still in shock about that. It was
the need inside of him, the nameless urge that transcended sex or narrow
bigoted views of what made other people happy. In a lot of ways, it wasn’t even
the fact that Adam was human and Jed was not.

It was his unshaking
doubt that as soon as Jed trusted, as soon as Jed let in a little belief, as
soon as Jed started thinking in terms of forever… That’s when it would happen.
That’s when his forever would be ripped away. It had with his family. The day
his father hadn’t returned from the hunt because of a human’s bullet. The day
they’d fled their home because the forest was cleared to make a human town, and
his family had no idea how to live in one. The day he was out scrounging for
food to fill their empty bellies because it was winter and they should have
been warm and safe in their homes, and his little sister had been attacked by a
rogue. The rogue had been insane, half-mad with whatever injustice had caused
him to attack a pup, and his mom had died trying to defend her.

And then he had trusted
once more. Raye had waltzed into his life and danced his objections away. Then
it had happened again, as surely as Jed feared it would.

He clutched Adam
tighter, knowing his hold wouldn’t last, knowing Adam would be ripped from him
like everyone else…

He no longer had any
dreams that could be taken from him. He’d accepted long ago that the pack would
be his life, but he would go home alone every day. He almost didn’t mind
because he knew it wasn’t a matter if Adam would realize he was a pathetic old
man and would leave.

Has
loved books for as long as she can remember. Books were always what pocket
money went on and what usually Father Christmas brought. When she ran out of
her kids' adventure stories, she would go raid her Mom's. By the age of eight
she was devouring classics like Little Women, and fell in love with love
stories.

She's
still in love with them. Any size, any shape, any creature - love is love, no
matter what it says on the box.

In
fact if they don't fit very neatly into any box she loves them even more!

She
has a very patient husband and three wonderful children. In 2010 in search of
adventure they all moved from the UK to the US and are happily settled in
Florida.

In 2013 after reading love
stories for so long she decided to write her own.

Real Men. True Love.
Rick R. Reed draws inspiration from the lives of gay men to craft stories that quicken the heartbeat, engage emotions, and keep the pages turning. Although he dabbles in horror, dark suspense, and comedy, his attention always returns to the power of love. He’s the award-winning and bestselling author of more than fifty works of published fiction and is forever at work on yet another book. Lambda Literary has called him: “A writer that doesn’t disappoint…” You can find him at www.rickrreed.com or www.rickrreedreality.blogspot.com. Rick lives in Palm Springs, CA with his beloved husband and their fierce Chihuahua/Shiba Inu mix.

Monday, October 17, 2016

I am so happy--and chilled--to announce that my collection of gay horror is now available at Amazon and Wilde City Press! BLURB
Horror. Romance. The two seem at odds, yet in provocative author Rick R. Reed’s hands, the pair merge like a match made in heaven…or hell.

Prepare for a dark journey into an unhinged world populated by ordinary and extraordinary monsters. Unhinged brings you tales that are sometimes chilling, sometimes romantic, sometimes hilarious but always thought-provoking.

Stories include:

A chilling and redemptive ghost story

A most unusual and shocking first-time meeting for two lovers

A story revolving around one of the 20th century’s most horrific serial killers

A darkly comic take on the vampire mythos

And more

This collection will make your heart race with passion…in all its forms.

Real Men. True Love.
Rick R. Reed draws inspiration from the lives of gay men to craft stories that quicken the heartbeat, engage emotions, and keep the pages turning. Although he dabbles in horror, dark suspense, and comedy, his attention always returns to the power of love. He’s the award-winning and bestselling author of more than fifty works of published fiction and is forever at work on yet another book. Lambda Literary has called him: “A writer that doesn’t disappoint…” You can find him at www.rickrreed.com or www.rickrreedreality.blogspot.com. Rick lives in Palm Springs, CA with his beloved husband and their fierce Chihuahua/Shiba Inu mix.

Follow by Email and Never Miss a Post!

Real Men. True Love.

I draw inspiration from the lives of gay men to craft stories that quicken the heartbeat, engage emotions, and keep the pages turning. Although I dabble in horror, dark suspense, and comedy, my attention always returns to the power of love. I'm addicted to books--I've written and had published more than 35 novels and counting, some of which have won awards and made it to the top of the Amazon bestseller charts. I'm forever at work on yet another book. Lambda Literary called me: "A writer that doesn't disappoint…" I live in Palm Springs, CA with my beloved husband who tries, mostly successfully, to keep me out of trouble. When I'm not writing, I'm cooking, reading, running, or traveling.

Visit (and please follow) my Amazon author page to see all the books I have waiting for you to dive into!